Hasselblad Masters

Volume 7: Enlighten

Marcus Bitsch's series, Home, reflects on a familiar journey. A sudden life change, a heartbreak, a big move, or another sudden upheaval sends life spiralling from a comfortable and expected path. Having just experienced the end to a relationship and a jarring move back to his home country of Denmark from France, Marcus turned to his camera to capture his journey. "I wanted to explore how I deal with sudden change of direction in my life. Although this change can be for the best, it can be a difficult realisation to come to."

Marcus's series Home takes the viewer through an explorer's gradual discovery of new perspectives after a seemingly planned flight gets tumultuously diverted. The story is playfully paralleled by how he creates the images. Although his artistry produces dream-like results, Bitsch tells a whimsical visual narrative with minimal post-production. Instead, he plays heavily with scale, optical illusions, and forced perspective to both depict and symbolise the surreal nature that reality sometimes takes on.

Home

"A spaceship bursts through warm clouds into thinner air - it symbolises the relationship and its trajectory. At times a dramatic flight and at others a smooth and blissful one."

“Meridian was a particularly difficult photo to shoot, given the location, weather, and the sheer amount of cotton - 3,6kg to be precise. Despite setting up a tarp to protect most of our equipment and set from the weather, the wind would instantly have small bits of 'cloud' flying around. To our luck, the sky cleared up around sunset, supplying the perfect sky for the photo."

"A space explorer freefalls from his ship into an environment of abstraction. His space helmet—a defence against worry and uncertainty, a shield that is put up in an unforeseen place while providing a comforting bubble of air from his previous home."

"The space explorer lands. Taking refuge in a calmer environment than he had expected after the state of freefalling. The cold blue sea brings calmness and familiarity in a world of uncertainty. There is comfort to find in the cold sea, where the breath is visible."

"Time has passed, and from it, a clearer view of the spaceship is possible. The spaceship was not destined to make the long flight."

"The space explorer finds himself as a smaller reflection of himself in the safety of his helmet - like he is drowning in his own thoughts."

"The space explorer seeks insight in the reflection of the eye of nature, trying to obtain a clearer view of himself."

"The space explorer has left the helmet behind, as the air of the new world is realised to be breathable. The imprint of the old self stays and leaves the impression of a state that didn't foster growth."

"The space explorer starts becoming one with the surroundings through acceptance of the new world."

"For Acceptance, the cloud is much closer to the camera than me. I thought I would have to focus stack the photo to get the desired sharpness across the centre to realise the optical illusion, but due to the X2D's incredible dynamic range, I could use a far larger aperture number than anticipated, pull the exposure up in post and get the desired result."

"The ideal state of the spaceship is let go, to live without the ballast of the past's ideals."

"The space explorer is like a silhouette of the surroundings. The sky is full of stars and planets - with more life to explore."

About Marcus Møller Bitsch

"I strive to create surreal visuals within the realistic spectrum - visuals that provoke, inspire, and tell stories."

Hasselblad Masters Winner Marcus Møller Bitsch is a self-taught photographer and director currently based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Bitsch's work Returning Home, a series inspired by the alienation he felt after returning to Denmark from living abroad in Australia, won the Hasselblad Masters Heritage category in 2021. He expanded on this series with Home, documenting his return again to Denmark after working in Paris. During his time in France, he further explored drawing, painting, and prop-building and developed a love for stop-motion animation. Marcus continues to bring these passions into his photography by constructing his own props and set designs. His work has been featured commercially, and in 2022, Marcus signed with the production house EDDY as a director.